KKR retained Rinku for INR 13 crore before the IPL 2025 auction.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) endured a tough Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. They won only five out of 14 games and finished in eighth position with only 12 points. They had flashes of brilliance throughout the season, but a lot of the main players who were expected to do the heavy lifting failed to step up consistently. One of them was Rinku Singh, who has seen a prominent rise as a T20 batter in the last couple of years. KKR retained him for INR 13 crore before the IPL 2025 auction, but his performances weren’t up to the mark.
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Rinku Singh impressed in patches in IPL 2022, when he scored 174 runs at a strike rate of 148.71 in seven innings. But his best came in the next season, as Rinku aced the toughest role and played numerous quality knocks while batting in the middle and lower middle order.
He scored 474 runs at an average of 59.25 and a 149.52 strike rate in 14 innings, including four fifties. While KKR couldn’t qualify for the playoffs and had numerous issues throughout the season, Rinku kept performing in the toughest situations. He established a name as one of the pace-hitters in the country.
However, he couldn’t replicate the same success in the following edition, even though KKR won the title. The southpaw could only assemble 168 runs at a tepid average of 18.66 and a strike rate of 148.67 in 11 outings, including a best of 26.
Still, he was an Indian finisher, a rare species, which guaranteed him retention ahead of the mega auction. Rinku’s performance was better than IPL 2024. He scored 206 runs at an average of 29.42 and a 153.73 strike rate in 11 innings. But he was still nowhere close to his best, with failures coming often.
The big guns, including Rinku, failed to perform consistently, which played a massive role in KKR’s average season. There are obviously high expectations from Rinku after so much investment in him. So the previous couple of seasons must have disappointed the Knight Riders.
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While Rinku Singh must be scrutinised for failing for two consecutive seasons, KKR’s poor usage has also been one of the reasons behind his constant failures. They consistently played him so low that he couldn’t get any time to adapt and had to play against his natural game.
During his best season (2023), Rinku batted five innings at No.5, where he averaged a whopping 87 and struck at 158.18. He also did a fair job at No.6, averaging 31 and striking at 128.09. But his best came at No.5, suggesting he must get enough balls.
However, he played only two innings at No.5, and eight of his 11 innings were at No.6 or below in IPL 2024 and 2025. Now, Rinku has never been a quick-starter, and he always requires a few balls to get going.
Even in his best season, 2023, Rinku had a strike rate of a mere 118.18 in the first 10 balls. That obviously improved in 2024 (159.57) and 2025 (126.80) because he had no choice but to go hard since he batted in the lower order.
However, an improved start meant Rinku was taking more risks than usual and couldn’t stay long at the crease in most innings. In 2023, he faced 22.64 balls per innings on average. But the figures came down to 10.72 and 12.18, respectively, in the next two editions.
Another notable change came in 2025 when teams started to target him more with spinners, which is not his stronger suit. He has an average of 30.30 and a strike rate of 121.68 against spinners since 2023.
His strike rate has consistently been low against slow bowlers: 112.12 in 2023, 115.15 in 2024, and 139.28 in 2025. In 2023 and 2024, he faced only 41.64% and 29.20% of his balls against spinners, respectively. But it jumped to 62.68% in 2025, suggesting teams figured out his weakness.
Earlier, Rinku used to manage them by safely playing them out and accelerating against pacers. But since he started batting in the lower order, he had no choice but to hit. That’s why his average against spinners in 2025 (23.40) was inferior to that in 2023 (37) and 2024 (38).
Rinku batting in the lower order exacerbated two of his biggest issues – slow start and spin game. Then, he couldn’t evolve as a batter when teams became smarter and targeted his weaker links.
One thing is certain – Rinku Singh is taking big money. The expectations are high, especially given the investment the team has put in. Hence, he must be among the most consistent players, even if he has been asked to perform out of his comfort zone.
Still, KKR should not part ways with him ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, given the quality he possesses. He is still among the few finest pace-hitters who can be flexible with his position in the middle order.
With Abhishek Nayar at the helm again, he will improve and regain his beast mode. Nayar knows Rinku’s game inside out. He will help him get better at certain aspects that haven’t worked for him lately.
Additionally, Rinku’s value will be high in the auction, and KKR might not get him back if they release him. If we look at the options, they have Andre Russell, whose expertise is on the wane, Venkatesh Iyer, who can have issues against high-quality pace, and Ramandeep Singh, who is still raw and evolving.
KKR might be forced to leave one of Venkatesh Iyer or Andre Russell to free some purse. This means Rinku’s role will increase drastically in the middle order. The likes of Manish Pandey and Moeen Ali have not been too great either. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has still to learn how to build an innings.
Rinku is among the top options for KKR, and they should not let him go before the next edition. The key will be to nail his entry points and ensure he gets enough balls, for that has always been his strength and worked for him before.
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